The New Show

I recall they had one episode where Dave Thomas' evil twin brother tried to take over as host, then pulled a gun on the audience demanding everyone's wallet. Dozens of wallets are thrown onto the stage, when the villain turns his gun toward one audience member in particular: "Hey, you didn't throw your wallet!"

I seem to remember in the ailing Andropov skit that Carrie Fisher comes in as a bikini-clad waitress trying to tell the premier something but she gets conked on the head, knocked out. I saw a similar sketch at a later time without this happening, wondering if this was a running gag in different episodes. I believe Carrie at least appeared in two episodes with then husband Paul Simon, who was musical guest. He also had a music video on one show I believe featuring his then wife.

My dad has a VHS recording of The Best of the New Show (yes they had a "Best of" show with the few episodes they had) which has some bits which still crack me up. There was the Frightened Family, a neurotic family whose hair-raising experiences actually raise their hair. ["I was just thinking about that BUG again!"] And the Den of Revulsion, where hopefully you don't see a little bit of yourself. ["That's like using someone else's toothbrush!" "What's wrong with that? I do that all the time!" "Ewww!"] There were lots of great guest spots, too; Kevin Klein, Gilda Radner, Paul Simon, Steve Martin... (Kevin Klein and Gilda Radner playing an ice-skating team from such a poor country they couldn't afford skates; Paul Simon coming to Roy's Food Repair (John Candy as Roy) to get the salt from the bottom of his pretzel bag put back onto the pretzels; Steve Martin in a spoof of Michael Jackson's "Billie Jean" video...)

Anyway, there were definitely some worthless skits, but no more of a ratio of bad to good than the current SNL. I hope someday someone stumbles across The New Show and releases it on DVD.

I remember a skit where buck henry and a female (playing his wife) were driving along a deserted road. Buck Henry notices something odd, a waterfall or something relatively common. He tells his wife to take a picture, but the wife forgot the camera. As he is yelling at her because of this, they drive by increasingly odd items. Bigfoot first, and then a unicorn?, the loch ness monster, and finally aliens. The aliens even invite them out of the car to pose for a picture, but once again, the wife has forgotten to pack the camera. Hard to remember details, but funny stuff even still. Thanks to everyone else for bringing back some long lost memories. A DVD release would be much appreciated.

Watched this series in Jr. High the season it was on, and while the series was short lived, it included some very funny sketches. My favorite, and the one I wish I could dig up the videotape on, is the Steve Martin parody of Michael Jackson's 'Billie Jean' video. Dressed as the KOP, Martin walked down the street, and had to stomp on some 'tiles' to make them light up, then gave a typical Steve Martin shrug and glance to the sky for divine intervention. The Den of Revulsion was another memorable clip ('Eeeeewwwww!'), and for some reason their spoof of phone sex sticks in my mind - the backwoods brothers that actually go to the trouble of establishing credit to speak with 'The Naked Lady' (Catherine O'Hara I think), who talks to them while taking care of her kids and ironing for her husband. It was a series that with a little better writing and a better time slot (prine time on Fridays, I think, matched up against 1st season Miami Vice), this show could have gone places.

I only remember a couple of episodes of this. The best skit I saw was the Steve Martin "Billie Jean" parody (which I could not find under the Steve Martin Television Appearances section on IMDB).

Another skit that stands out was the "Cartoon Bloopers" skit. The idea was so original and ridiculous at that time, although the idea has been somewhat over-used in recent years. Like, "The Jetsons", George is supposed to enter a room, and the space-age door slides up half way and gets stuck, and you can hear him laughing on the other side of the door. Great stuff!

Would love to see a "Best Of" DVD for this show!

8 out of 10 stars.